Gao Jingyi (高景逸)’s Understanding of Reverence (Jing 敬) and Its Transcendental Significance

Ming-Wei Lu

doi:10.22161/jhed.8.5.7

Abstract

Gao Jing-yi (高景逸 Gao Pan-long 高攀龙, 1562–1626), a Zhu Xi (朱熹) scholar of the late Ming, inherited the Cheng–Zhu emphasis on “abiding in reverence” (zhu jing 主静) and reconsidered its meaning as a method of self-cultivation in the wake of Wang Yang-ming (王阳明)’s learning. This article first shows that Gao, following Zhu Xi’s description of the mind as “the numinous essence of qi,” classes the mind with qi while affirming that it is originally luminous and inherently able to know principle (li 理); this provides the theoretical basis for his account of reverence (jing 敬). The article then traces Gao’s early struggle with “devoting effort solely to solemnity and self-restraint” and his later understanding of sincerity (cheng) as the original substance and reverence as the corresponding practice. It argues that for Gao reverence does not mean controlling the emotions through willpower; it is a practice of investigating things and exhausting principle that corresponds to the substance of sincerity and to human nature, and therefore encompasses all cultivation of the mind. Turning to reverence as a state of life, the article argues that the feelings of harmony and solemnity, of apprehension and caution, and of love and respect that Gao describes arise from the substance of human nature rather than from deliberate thought. They are possessed by everyone and known without learning, and so carry an a priori, originary significance, as a comparison with Kant’s analysis of the feeling of respect helps to show. Finally, returning to Cheng Yi (程颐)’s analogy of the farmer who turns pale at the mention of a tiger, the article contends that, within a principle-centered account of mind and nature, the feeling of reverence is the manifestation of principle acting upon the mind, and that sustaining reverence and investigating things can strengthen the motivating force of moral feeling in practice.

References

Cheng Yi, “Henan Chengshi Yishu,” in Er Cheng Ji, vol. 15. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2004, pp. 168–169.

Li Jingde, ed., Zhuzi Yulei, vol. 14. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2004, p. 269.

Li Jingde, ed., Zhuzi Yulei, vol. 9. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2004, p. 150.

Zhu Xi, quoted in Li Jingde, ed., Zhuzi Yulei, vol. 12. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2004, p. 208.

Gao Panlong, “Chongwen Huiyu Xu,” in Gaozi Yishu, vol. 9. Nanjing: Fenghuang Chubanshe, 2011, p. 233; and Wu Guisen, “Donglin San Xiansheng Zan,” in Donglin Shuyuan Zhi, vol. 17. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2004, p. 687.

Gao Panlong, “Sui Cunhu Renzhe Jie [Jiwei],” Jiangyi, in Gaozi Yishu, vol. 4. Nanjing: Fenghuang Chubanshe, 2011, p. 88.

Gao Panlong, “Yulu,” in Gaozi Yishu, vol. 5. Nanjing: Fenghuang Chubanshe, 2011, p. 97.

Zhu Xi, quoted in Li Jingde, ed., Zhuzi Yulei, vol. 12. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2004, p. 205.

Gao Panlong, “Yu,” in Gaozi Yishu, vol. 1. Nanjing: Fenghuang Chubanshe, 2011, p. 20.

Gao Panlong, “Yu,” in Gaozi Yishu, vol. 1. Nanjing: Fenghuang Chubanshe, 2011, p. 21.

Gao Panlong, “Yu,” in Gaozi Yishu, vol. 1. Nanjing: Fenghuang Chubanshe, 2011, p. 22.

Gao Panlong, “Yu Ziwang Er,” in Gaozi Yishu, vol. 8a. Nanjing: Fenghuang Chubanshe, 2011, p. 177.

Gao Panlong, “Gongchen Shengming Wuxue zhi Yao Shu [Tianqi er nian wei Taichang Si Shaoqing shang de zhi fa feng yi nian],” in Gaozi Yishu, vol. 7. Nanjing: Fenghuang Chubanshe, 2011, p. 134.

Zhu Xi, “Daxue,” in Sishu Jizhu. Taipei: Shijie Shuju, 1956, p. 5.

Gao Panlong, “Yu,” in Gaozi Yishu, vol. 1. Nanjing: Fenghuang Chubanshe, 2011, p. 19.

Gao Panlong, “Yu Xu Hunchun,” in Gaozi Yishu, vol. 8b. Nanjing: Fenghuang Chubanshe, 2011, p. 215.

Cheng Yi, “Henan Chengshi Yishu,” in Er Cheng Ji, vol. 18. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2004, p. 188; and Zhu Xi, quoted in Li Jingde, ed., Zhuzi Yulei, vol. 95. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2004, p. 2456.

Gao Panlong, “Kunxue Ji,” in Gaozi Yishu, vol. 3. Nanjing: Fenghuang Chubanshe, 2011, p. 40.

Li Jingde, ed., Zhuzi Yulei, vol. 6. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2004, p. 199.

Li Jingde, ed., Zhuzi Yulei, vol. 6. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2004, p. 210.

Zhu Xi, quoted in Li Jingde, ed., Zhuzi Yulei, vol. 6. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2004, p. 123.

Gao Panlong, “Da Xue Yongzhang Yi,” in Gaozi Yishu, vol. 8b. Nanjing: Fenghuang Chubanshe, 2011, pp. 215–216.

Gao Panlong, “Junzi Xiu Ji Yi Jing Zhang [Wushen],” in Gaozi Yishu, vol. 4. Nanjing: Fenghuang Chubanshe, 2011, p. 79.

Gao Panlong, “Tongchuan Hui Xu Ji Xu [Dangdao gai Heming Shuyuan],” in Gaozi Yishu, vol. 9. Nanjing: Fenghuang Chubanshe, 2011, p. 232.

Gao Panlong, “Da Shaoxu San,” in Gaozi Yishu, vol. 8a. Nanjing: Fenghuang Chubanshe, 2011, p. 162.

Gao Panlong, “Ai Jing Shuo,” in Gaozi Yishu, vol. 3. Nanjing: Fenghuang Chubanshe, 2011, p. 52.

I. Kant, Critique of Practical Reason, trans. and annotated by Mou Zongsan, in Kant de Daode Zhexue. Taipei: Taiwan Xuesheng Shuju, 2000, p. 257.

I. Kant, Critique of Practical Reason, trans. and annotated by Mou Zongsan, in Kant de Daode Zhexue. Taipei: Taiwan Xuesheng Shuju, 2000, p. 254.

I. Kant, Critique of Practical Reason, trans. and annotated by Mou Zongsan, in Kant de Daode Zhexue. Taipei: Taiwan Xuesheng Shuju, 2000, p. 255.

Cheng Yi, “Henan Chengshi Yishu,” in Er Cheng Ji, vol. 2a. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2004, p. 16.

Article Info

Received: 23 Sep 2026; Received in revised form: 19 Oct 2026; Accepted: 22 Oct 2026, Published on: 27 Oct 2026